Police said they are investigating a homicide in Lowell after the body of a 15-year-old female was found inside a Lawrence Street apartment, according to law enforcement.
Investigators said police received a 911 call shortly after 6 p.m. Friday from a person who reported the body. A family member who located the female said they observed “traumatic injuries,” Middlesex District Attorney Marian Ryan said in a statement.
“When police arrived on scene they located the victim suffering from apparent gunshot wounds. Multiple shell casings were also located. Later in the night, investigators were granted a search warrant for the apartment and the investigation is very active at this time,” the district attorney’s office said in a statement Saturday.
MBTA Transit Police arrested a 23-year-old woman who they say attacked a bus driver earlier this week.
Police said officers stationed at Nubian Square “interrupted (and) prevented” the woman’s attack. They alleged she was “not please(d) with where the operator dropped passengers off.”
“MBTA bus operators perform an invaluable public service. The Transit Police Department take(s) assaults on operators with the utmost seriousness,” the department said in a statement.
A 25-year-old educator from Haverhill was charged Friday with sending pornographic images of himself to a 16-year-old student, prosecutors said.
Justin Smith faces two felony counts of distributing obscene matter to a minor. The “educational support professional” from Haverhill’s Gateway Academy was arrested by police Thursday and arraigned in court Friday, according to law enforcement.
Judge Cesar Archilla set bail at $4,000 after prosecutors requested a $15,000 bail.
“Smith is to have no contact with the alleged victim, no contact with minors, stay away from schools, and comply with GPS home confinement,” the Essex DA’s office wrote of Smith’s conditions of release.
Smith is due back in court on July 8, according to District Attorney Paul Tucker’s office.
A jury convicted two Springfield residents Friday of beating, torturing, and burning a person during a home invasion in September 2019, according to the Hampden DA’s Office.
Paul Gayle, 30, and Malik Erskine, 24, bound a man with zip ties and tortured him by using an accelerant and ignition to burn him all in an attempt to rob him, according to prosecutors. The man eventually electronically transferred $4,000 to a third party’s account, according to law enforcement.
Hampden County District Attorney Anthony Gulluni said the victim in the case suffered “immensely both physically and mentally from the barbaric attack he suffered at the hands of the defendants.”
“I am hopeful this verdict brings some sense of justice to the victim who will forever live with the trauma he has suffered,” Gulluni said in a statement.
After the break-in, the man was later transported to a Boston hospital “for an extensive recovery period with second and third degree burns over 60% of his body,” according to prosecutors.
A judge scheduled a sentencing hearing for June 27 in Hampden Superior Court.
Two people were shot in Pittsfield Friday afternoon, according to the Berkshire DA’s Office.
The two individuals were in the area of North and Bradford streets, law enforcement said.
Authorities “believe this was not a random act and that there is no immediate danger to the public,” prosecutors said in a statement. “However, as a suspect(s) has not been identified, law enforcement encourages the public to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to police.”
A person driving a motorized scooter drove up to a bus and struck the side mirror with a closed fist Friday morning, according to MBTA Transit Police.
The bus was temporarily taken out of service after the mirror was cracked, which caused a delay.
“Scooter driver fled,” police said.